Momentum Edit

Profile and significance

Mark Draper is a Canadian freeski athlete and coach from Toronto, born in 1998, who moved from the Nor-Am contest scene into a visible role teaching progression and park fundamentals. He spent several seasons competing in slopestyle and big air before channeling his energy into coaching and media with Ski Addiction, while representing rider-run brands such as RMU, Karbon, and Joystick. Draper’s significance lies in that blend: he is a capable park skier with verified results who now translates freeski technique into clear, practical guidance for everyday riders.

Competitive arc and key venues

Draper’s competitive résumé centers on Nor-Am Cup slopestyle and big air starts, highlighted by a fourth-place finish in slopestyle at Aspen Snowmass in February 2019. He also recorded solid top-15s on the Canadian stops common to the circuit, including Le Relais near Québec City and events in Calgary at WinSport. Those venues map his progression from Ontario park roots to western resorts with larger features, a trajectory many Canadian freeskiers follow on their way toward World Cup ambitions. While Draper later stepped away from international starts, that phase sharpened the timing and course-management skills he now brings to coaching.

How they ski: what to watch for

Draper skis with a clean, teachable style that emphasizes approach speed, early set-up, and centered landings—useful markers for anyone learning slopestyle. On jumps, he favors well-grabbed spins that come from patient takeoffs rather than hucked rotations, a habit reinforced by off-snow reps with Ski Addiction’s tramp-based drills. On rails, he shows comfort with change-ups and clean exits, keeping shoulders aligned to reduce unwinds. The overall impression is efficient and repeatable: the kind of skiing you can slow down, study, and then emulate in your next park lap.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Beyond contests, Draper leaned into filming and community media—submitting a SuperUnknown entry in 2021 and appearing in coaching edits and terrain-park tours that demystify features for progressing skiers. As a returning coach with Momentum Camps on Whistler Blackcomb, he spends long stints on Blackcomb Glacier refining campers’ fundamentals. That year-over-year presence, combined with accessible tutorials, has given Draper an outsized impact relative to his contest record: he helps more people ski better, faster, and safer.

Geography that built the toolkit

Draper’s foundation is classic Ontario park culture, shaped by countless laps in the “Junkyard” and Outback zones at Mount St. Louis Moonstone. Those smaller-vertical but feature-dense parks reward precision and quick resets, traits obvious in his rails and switch takeoffs. From there, he graduated to the big lines and longer rhythm at Whistler Blackcomb, and to contest venues like WinSport in Calgary and Aspen Snowmass, where speed control and wind management matter. Each location contributed a layer: Ontario for rail craft, Whistler for XL jump timing, and Nor-Am stops for composure under pressure.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Draper rides RMU park skis—often the Rippah width for all-day durability—paired with Joystick poles and Karbon outerwear. For skiers looking to follow his progression framework, the actionable piece is the training loop: structured tutorials and off-snow tools from Ski Addiction build repetition and confidence, which then transfers to snow. Match your ski choice to your local features, keep your stance neutral enough to adapt mid-feature, and film laps to compare your body position to Draper’s checkpoints.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Not every influential freeski voice is an Olympic medalist. Draper sits in the growing class of slopestyle and big air skiers whose value is equal parts ability and communication. He knows the Nor-Am pace, coaches on glacier in the summer, and publishes breakdowns that remove the mystery from rails, spins, grabs, and feature selection. If you’re building a park toolkit—from Ontario rope-tow nights to spring laps at Whistler Blackcomb—Mark Draper is a reliable reference for how modern freeski technique should look and feel.